Current commercially available gas turbines and other critical gas or fluid flow systems for use in connection with industrial processes can be extremely sensitive to contamination, such as, solid contaminants (i.e., particulates), liquid contaminants, and/or liquid aerosol, present within the process fluid flow. Solid contaminants, as an example, can act to wear rotating components, foul heat exchangers, contaminate cooling liquids, clog processing equipment, as well as affecting product quality and numerous other processing and equipment problems. Liquid contaminants, on the other hand, can accumulate or coalesce over time, and can, as the volume increases, travel along the sides and bottom of a pipeline and affect the efficiency of the fluid flow. Likewise, liquid aerosol or droplets, although small in mass, can similarly accumulate and build up over time, and have damaging effects on downstream equipment in the fluid flow system.
In order to minimize the occurrence of such contamination, filtration and separation equipment have been employed in connection with these fluid flow systems, so that contaminants present within the fluid flow can be removed therefrom. At present, most manufacturers have developed cleanliness requirement specifications for their process gas flow systems. To accommodate such requirements, modern filters and separators have been designed to remove particulate contaminants with high efficiency. However, the issue with liquid contaminants or liquid aerosols may remain. Moreover, the selection of filtration and separation equipment that can provide adequate removal of the right contaminants can be a difficult task.
In particular, there is available filtration and separation equipment adapted for handling different contaminants in connection with different applications. As a result, unless there is knowledge about the contaminants within the fluid flow, as well as their characteristics, inadequate filtration and separation equipment may be selected, purchased and subsequently installed. The failure to employ optimal or at least appropriate filtration and separation equipment, in many instances, can lead to inadequate removal of the contaminants resulting in damage to downstream equipment, or detrimental effects to product quality. In addition, operational costs of the system can be significantly higher as a result of poor performance caused by insufficient removal of the contaminants.
Even if the appropriate filters and separators may be used, an additional verification step may be needed in order to assure that contamination within the fluid system is being adequately controlled. Presently, most testing of fluid flow contaminants within an energy industry pipeline is accomplished by collecting samples of the fluid flow for subsequent offsite analysis. However, in many instances, a substantially accurate sample may not be available, especially when the sample cannot be isokinetically collected. In other words, if fluid entering the sampling system does not exhibit similar velocity and kinetic energy to the fluid flow in the pressurized process fluid flow, an accurate representation of contaminants within the fluid flow may not be collected. Additionally, at present, the collected sample must either be mailed or transported to a third party laboratory where the sample sits and waits to be measured and analyzed. During this period, the sample can change and the contaminants can often be lost to the sample container.
Moreover, contamination levels within a pipeline can oftentimes rise suddenly and very quickly. For example, aerosol particles can quickly accumulate and reach dangerous levels without being detected in time to avoid damage to expensive equipment. Current contaminant particle detectors typically lack the capability to remotely and continuously monitor the aerosol contaminants in a pipeline, and to provide an immediate notification and alarm upon the contaminant particles reaching a particular threshold level. It should be appreciated that reference to contaminant particles, or “particles” hereafter can include liquid, solid, and aerosol particles.
Accordingly, a need exists for a system that can remotely and continuously monitor contaminant particle levels in fluid flows, and which can generate an alarm upon a threshold level being reached.